This document discusses competitive intelligence and provides tactics for gathering intelligence about competitors in a fast, cheap, and ethical manner. The document outlines the role of competitive intelligence in understanding risks and gaining advantages over rivals. It then describes various tools and sources for competitive intelligence, such as profiling companies and executives, monitoring websites and discussion groups, conducting interviews, and attending trade shows. The document emphasizes gathering intelligence from publicly available sources and stresses that intelligence gathering should be ethical.

1. Competitive Intelligence
Fast…Cheap…Ethical
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 1

2. Your speaker
• Rob Duncan
• Director, BCIT Applied Research
Liaison Office
• Long-time marketing intelligence
consultant & BCIT instructor
• Author of “Competitive Intelligence:
Fast, Cheap & Ethical” (2008)*
* Best Business Book s of 2008
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 2

3. Agenda
• Entrepreneurial risk
• The role of competitive intelligence
• Intelligence is everywhere!
• Fast, cheap, ethical CI tactics
• Conclusion & questions
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 3

4. Entrepreneurial risk
• Inventor syndrome:
…They will love it!
… Nobody else is doing this!
… We have no competitors!
… Ours is better/faster/cheaper!
… We can out-run the competition
… We’re going to be rich!
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 4

5. The role of CI
• Understand risks
• Reduce risks
• Assess strengths
• Uncover vulnerabilities
• Gain advantages
• Obtain early warning
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 5

6. Overall goals of CI
• Get 1% ahead of rivals
• Work toward sustained
advantage
• Get early warning on
competitor actions
• Deepen understanding of
industry fundamentals
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 6

7. What CI should be
• What CI should be: • What CI shouldn’t be:
– Fast – Slow
– Anticipatory – Reactive
– Easy – Cumbersome
– Inexpensive – Expensive
– Ingenious – Espionage
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 7

8. Common pitfalls in intelligence
• Wrong questions
• Too literal
• Too linear
• Failure of imagination
• Focus on history
• Over-reliance on
computer systems
• No trust in intuition
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 8

9. Intelligence is everywhere!
• Intelligence includes all
forms of:
– Data
– Information
– Knowledge
– Judgments
– History
– Speculation
– Intuition
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 9

10. Frequently overlooked sources
• Yourself, your friends, colleagues
• Your customers
• Observation & mystery shopping
• Product sampling
• Human intelligence
• Trade shows
• Competitor’s website
• Blogs, discussion boards, online social networks
• Intuition
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 10

11. Starting points for CI
• The CI cycle
• Understanding forces driving competition
• Putting a system in place
• Defining intelligence objectives
• Sources of intelligence
• Reporting of CI
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 11

12. Competitive Intelligence Cycle
1. What questions does the
company need answers
to?
1. Planning
4. Dissemination
2.
and Direction
Collect the information
from various sources.
3. Use analysis to move
information to
intelligence.
4. Act on the intelligence
which will create more
2. Collection
3. Analysis
questions.
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 12

13. What questions should be
asked?
• What to look for
– Emerging technologies
– New products/services
– Alliances and acquisitions
– Movement of key personnel
– Changing customer perceptions and
expectations
– Regulatory changes
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 13

14. What information should be
gathered?
• Competitor products/services
• Competitor strategies
• Pricing/cost structures
• Customer demographics
• Customer needs/wants
• Supplier information
• Future and substitute products/services
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 14

15. A CI philosophy…
•Fast beats perfect
•Cheap beats expensive
•Ethical beats sleazy
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 15

16. Competitive Intelligence Tools
Company Profiling
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 16

17. Company profiling
• Company history
• Financial situation
• Prices, products and promotions
• Supply & distribution chains
• Technology & workforce
• Production facilities, capabilities
• Key executives
• Strategic alliances
• Competitors
• Positioning strategy
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 17

18. Some basic tools:
• Google
• Company’s own website
• EDGAR (www.sec.gov) for publicly-traded US companies
– Look for 10K (annual), 10Q (quarterly) & other filings
• SEDAR (www.sedar.com)
– Same idea for Canadian companies
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 18

19. Website change alerts
• WatchThatPage.com
• www.watchthatpage.com
• Alerts you via e-mail of any
updates to web pages that you
tell it to track
• Free, but requires that you
register
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 19

20. Archived snapshots of your
competitor’s website
• WayBackMachine
• www.archive.org
• Type in Website address, and
you get all the snapshots of
the site that are stored
• Can see how competitor’s
strategies etc. have been
evolving
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 20

21. Tapping into discussion groups
• Google groups
• Searches for information
in discussion groups
• Can also be used to post
questions, stimulate CI
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 21

22. Competitive Intelligence Tools
Executive Profiling
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 22

23. Executive profiling
• Basic facts
– Place and date of birth
– Education, work history
– Personal/family situation/hobbies
• Successes, failures
• Strengths, weaknesses
• Personality type (eg. Myers-Briggs)
• Friends, associates
• Mentors, critics
• Decision/strategy style
• Preferences, hot buttons
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 23

24. Some profiling tools
• Corporate website
• Personal websites
• Blogs
• Zoominfo.com
• Google, Google News
• Social networks
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 24

25. Tapping into blogs
• Clusty.com
• Clustering search engine that
can search blogs
• Aggregates blog searches from
these engines:
– Technorati
– Blogdigger
– Blogpulse
– Feedster
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 25

26. LinkedIn
• www.linkedin.com
• Professional profile
• Schools
• Work history
• Connections
• Q&A
• Groups
• Recommendations
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 26

27. Facebook
• www.facebook.com
• Personal life
• Friends
• Friends of friends
• Habits
• Interests
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 27

28. Twitter
• www.twitter.com
• Interests
• Location
• Activities
• Who follows them
• Who they follow
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 28

29. Competitive Intelligence Tools
Yourself & friends
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 29

30. CI from yourself & friends
• Become a customer of the competition
• List the “Top 10” things that bug you as a customer
• Become a shareholder of the competition
• Test/use the competitor’s products
• Have an informal “focus group” with friends
• Get friends to do “mystery shopping”
• Goal is to gain just 1% more insight than the competitor
has about you
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 30

31. Competitive Intelligence Tools
Human Intelligence
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 31

32. Human Intelligence
• Intelligence gathered from people directly
• Most overlooked source
• People have a tendency to talk
• Elicitation
• Conversational hourglass
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 32

33. Competitive Intelligence Tools
Trade Show Intelligence
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 33

34. Trade Show Intelligence
• Lots of CI info in 1 place
• Companies are there to “show off”
• Often staffed by sales people (talkers)
• Plenty of printed material
• Expert speakers and seminars
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 34

35. List of exhibitors
• Example from
www.buildexvancouver.com
• Full list of exhibitors
– Links to their websites
– Exact booth location
– Can use map to plan
approach
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 35

36. Floor map from website
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 36

37. Speakers
• Identify key speaker
targets (website)
• Do background profiling
• Plan what to listen for
• Specific questions
• Get copies of material &
contact info
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 37

38. Trade show tactics
• Quick overall “visual” sweep to confirm location of key
targets
• “Snag & bag” sweep to get easy to obtain printed
material, demo disks etc.
• Backroom analysis to confirm & refine approach to
human intelligence
• Confirm key human targets & questions
• Conduct interviews
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 38

39. Competitive Intelligence Tools
CI Matrix Reporting System
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 39

40. CI Matrix
• A tool for summarizing key factors
• Can see at-a-glance how we compare to
competition on these key factors
• Most important parts:
– Threat Assessment and
– Counter Attack Strategy
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 40

41. CI Matrix
Threat
Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor Counter-
Assess
1 2 3 4 5 attack Strategy
ment
Our Company N/A N/A
Competitor A
Competitor B
Competitor C
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 41

42. Competitive Intelligence Tools
Ethical Issues in Intelligence
Gathering
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 42

43. SCIP code of ethics
1. To continually strive to increase the recognition and respect of the
profession.
2. To comply with all applicable laws, domestic and international.
3. To accurately disclose all relevant information, including one's identity and
organization, prior to all interviews.
4. To fully respect all requests for confidentiality of information.
5. To avoid conflicts of interest in fulfilling one's duties.
6. To provide honest and realistic recommendations and conclusions in the
execution of one's duties.
7. To promote this code of ethics within one's company, with third-party
contractors and within the entire profession.
8. To faithfully adhere to and abide by one's company policies, objectives,
and guidelines.
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 43

44. Review: a CI philosophy…
•Fast beats perfect
•Cheap beats expensive
•Ethical beats sleazy
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 44

45. Questions?
Thank you!
Email: greatcapes@gmail.com
Copyright Rob Duncan, 2009 45